Mujahidin-i Khalq The Saziman-i Mujahidin-i Khalq-i lran (Holy Warrior Organization of the Iranian People) is better known simply as the Iranian Mujahidin. It is a religious, but anticlerical, organization and constitutes the main opposition to the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Mujahidin’s ideology combines Shiism with Marxism. It interprets Islam, especially the Qur’an, the hadiths
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MUHTASIB. A holder of the office of al-hisbah, an executive function falling roughly between the offices of qadi (judge) and wdli al-mazdlim (mazdlim court magistrate), the muhtasib was charged with enforcing public morality, overseeing the public welfare, and supervising the markets, fulfilling thereby the community’s collective obligation to command the good and forbid evil (“al-amr
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MUHARRAM. The first month of the lunar Islamic calendar begins like the other months with the first sighting of the crescent moon. Muharram has a long tradition as a sacred month in Islam. For example, it was on 16 Muharram that the qiblah (the orientation of prayer) was shifted from Jerusalem to Mecca. Among Shi`is
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MUHAMMADIYAH. The Javanese Islamic reformist movement known as Muhammadiyah has become one of the three or four most important religious, educational, and social movements throughout the islands of Indonesia as well as the most powerful current reformist movement in Muslim Southeast Asia. By the fourteenth century Sufi Muslim traders began arriving at Indonesian ports, and
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MUHAMMAD `ALI DYNASTY. A dynasty of Albanian-Ottoman origin that reigned in Egypt from 1805 until Gamal Abdel Nasser and the Free Officers deposed King Faruq in 1952 and his infant son Ahmad Fu’ad II the following year and established a republic. The rulers bore the titles pasha and wali (governor) until 1867; they were called
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MUHAMMAD.peace be upon him [This entry focuses on the Prophet, or the Messenger of God, from whose activity the religion of Islam developed. It comprises three articles: Life of the Prophet Biographies Role of the Prophet in Muslim Thought and Practice The first treats the historical details of his life and work; the second surveys
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MUGHAL EMPIRE. The great Muslim empire on the Indian subcontinent was founded by Babur (1483/ 84-1530), who was descended on his father’s side from Timur and on his mother’s from Chinggis Khan. Unsuccessful in reviving Timurid glories in Central Asia, he turned to India, where he established Mughal power in 1526. The empire reached its
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MUFTI. A Muslim Jurist capable of giving, when requested, a nonbinding opinion known as a fatwa, on a point of Islamic law is termed a mufti. During the forma tive period of Islam, learned Muslims whose counsel was sought on legal and ethical issues that arose in the community attempted to provide opinions and answers
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MOSQUE. [This entry comprises five articles: Historical Development Mosque Architecture The Mosque in Politics The Mosque in Society The Mosque in Education The first is a historical survey of the origin and development of the mosque as a socioreligious institution; the second is an essay on the genesis and development of mosque architecture. The companion
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MORO NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT. To safeguard Moro (Philippine Muslim) interests and cultural identity, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) was formed in 1969 by a group of young, progressive Moros headed by Nur Misuari, a former student activist at the University of the Philippines. The formation of the MNLF was in response to the historical
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